A Proportional Response

  All situations must be taken into context by those who are honest, and also to those who remove the context and remove any claim regarding honesty and/or the pursuit of the truth.  This act typically falls into one of two categories (or both) the first being a lie-by-omission, and the other being a lie by misdirection, though the use of these two tactics may be a distinction without a difference, if you will.  Another tactic in use is the ‘Argumentum ad Hominem’, which, when translated means, “An attack on the character/motive of the opponent rather than the substance of the argument itself”.

 Further, Plato’s Republic is the foundational writing on how a society can be organized and managed.  For instance, in “Plato’s Republic”, the list of possible systems pointing out the pros and cons of each system, the list is:

1. Aristocracy.
2. Timocracy,
3. Oligarchy,
4. Democracy.
5. Tyranny, (the worst form of government)

 Plato also put forward the idea of the Philosopher King, who would be a man well trained in philosophy, thus leading his society through reason and logic.  Plato’s eventual conclusion was that democracy was the best choice of government, as it spread the power around the society, as a means of saving the people from all other forms of government.

 The Romans took Plato’s ideas and took a stab at democracy, and when the Roman society left their “Plato path”, there was more actual stabbing being done.  When Rome moved away from being a Republic toward its Empire phase, the senate and councils became the vestments for the timocracy and tyranny that had become dominant.  Rome eventually ended up having more wars inside the borders than on them, which is a death knell for any society; for a house divided cannot stand, and hence Rome fell.

 The post-Roman era saw a redistribution of power, and that power landed, as most things do, on the ground.  We can see that throughout the cyclical patterns of history, the pre-Roman tribalism returned and everything fell apart for a while; that is until some men made order out of the chaos by drawing their swords, thus making other men draw theirs’. 

 With the fall of Rome, the best aspects of mankind fell also, and so things regressed: things such as art, music, architecture, and higher levels of discourse.  These things were all on their “back foot” so to speak, as the majority of people were too busy looking for food, or looking for more land upon which to grow more food.  That time in European history was called the “Dark Ages”.  Some posit that during that time period, there was a general cooling of Europe, a climate change of sorts; thus hindered food growth and when that cold spell of ~500 years went away, things started growing again, and so life in general improved.  Others think that it was due to the lack of papyrus, which Islam had stopped shipping to Europe.

 It took another five centuries for Europe to fully recover from the Dark Ages, and the Age of Enlightenment (ca.1800+) got underway with thinkers such as Descartes (1596-1650) and Leibniz (1646-1715) starting publishing.  Eventually, John Locke and David Hume came along and penned ideas that helped build the foundation of the laws that were based on the back of the Magna Carta Libertatum (1215) which was at the time basically a message of surrender from King John "Lackland" Plantagenet of England toward reducing his power and moving said power toward the Barons under his rule.  Eventually, the power was pushed even closer to the people, thus setting the stage for what we now call Parliament.

  The first parliamentary meetings took place in a green field (which is why, to this day, the seats are green) and when the debates would become heated, the people who had swords would draw, and hence this is why the table still separates the government from the opposition.  By the way, the width of the table is just over the length of a gentleman’s sword.  The Barons still had a say on the laws being passed, hence why the British House of Lords is a thing, and why Canada has a Senate. 

  The next step in the West’s political march-forward was the removal of the Timocracy, thus, men who didn’t own land got the vote.  It must be noted that the women who owned land in those times were able to vote in Great Britain.  Of course, eventually the landless men got the vote, and then some of the landless women also wanted to participate in shaping society and so they too got the vote.  Another “item of interest”, so to speak, is that many women actually didn’t want the vote, seeing as the reason given was that men could be pressed into military service, and so they had ‘skin in the game’, and yet women were allowed the vote, though without the same risk.

  This liberal line of thinking spread from Britain to the rest of the Christian World and so began the ‘Age of Little Responsibility’ in the West.  Meanwhile, outside of the West there were other forms of politics coming to fruition.  Of course, many of these also had years, even centuries, to develop and grow.  One of the more historically recent political movements, with an impressive longevity, is Islam; and theocracies are even a worse form of tyranny, because the responsibility is still being off-loaded again; only this time the justifications are being laid at the feet of Allah/God.

  While Islam started in Mecca, it didn’t gain real traction until Mohammad and his followers were expelled and he traveled to Medina in 622 AD.  Upon his arrival the Jewish community of the time were basically subjugated and those Jews who could not leave, or who would not convert to Islam, ended up dying or paying the jizya tax.  The jizya tax was historically levied on non-Muslim subjects living in Muslim-ruled lands.  Many Arabs joined the Islamic religion and so it grew and those Arabs made little Arabs who grew taller, as it has worked for many groups.  The Islamic population grew generation after generation until it could become a formidable fighting force over the course of four hundred and fifty years taking over Christian country after Christian county, until the Muslims invaded and took over what is now Israel, Spain Austria and part of France; this of course caught the attention of the Religious class in The West, kicking off the first Crusade in 1096 AD.  Of course by the end of the Crusades, while we were told Islam won, which didn’t really happen, seeing as post WWI in 1922 AD the Ottoman Empire was smashed and Islamists had to retreat out of most of the Christian lands that they had taken, starting around 1300 AD. 

  The end of World War One (WWI) didn’t really solve anything – in fact, the punitive actions at the end of WWI exasperated the situation, thus triggering WWII (or WWI.I, as I see it).  In the aftermath of WWII, much of the world was basically back to the same boundaries, with the exception of the Baltic States; what did change though was the attitude of the general public in the West and beyond: “PEACE by any means necessary”.

  This so-called Peace-First-Principle, while praiseworthy, failed because of the assumption by those who wanted to live in a world of peace also assumed that everyone else did too; though there were some people who did not want peace.  In the West many people have lost the will to protect personal spaces, while people in other countries did not.

  The real question to be asked is this: have the Crusades truly ever ended or did the proverbial ‘can’ simply get kicked down the road ad nauseam?  As it has been tried to be explained in this writing, the history of politics has no starting point, as each political act is simply a deviation from the previous one.  And, as some people like to point out, history doesn’t repeat, it does though seem to rhyme quite well. 

 As of late, the term ‘Colonization’ has become a taboo word, resulting in a political push to ‘decolonize’ the West.  And yet, it must be asked, how does one “decolonize” England, Germany, Italy, Spain, or even modern-day India?  Truth be told, Spain, for example, has already been decolonized, along with portions of France and the southern end of Italy, as have Austria and Romania along with several other countries in that region: thus begging the question, how many generations are required to make a people indigenous, simply put, are the Italians indigenous and deserving of the protection of UNDRIP?   

 Continuing on with the hanging question just above, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) sought a different solution to the ‘who was here first’ question, by simply removing any and all historical markers of previous cultures.  Recently in the West, this tactic has been replicated with the renaming of streets, the taking down of statues, and the vilification of people previously thought of as heroes.  A few examples of people, who have recently been vilified, if not out right defamed, are: Winston Churchill, Egerton Ryerson, and Henry Dundas; the problem is that those people are being judged out of context, coupled with a lack of knowledge on history.

 Conversely, Margaret Sanger the creator of Planned Parenthood is still being lauded as a hero.  Some people may judge that the name “Planned Parenthood” is an oxymoron seeing as the majority of ‘patients’ entering any of the almost 600 clinics in the United States are looking to be a non-parent, to the tune of around two million visits a year.  Responsibility for a person’s choice and actions has once again been offloaded, at the expense of another human being.

 It has been said – ‘sometimes there is no solution, only compromises.’  The intended purpose of politics, within a democracy, is to navigate those choices on the behalf of the people within the borders of their own nation state.  It has also been said – ‘if you want to see who rules you, just look to see who you’re not allowed to criticize.’  The intended rule of politics, within a democracy, as it is that critique is required for only via debate, the crucible for ideas, within which the best of ideas rise to the top.  Conversely, within a tyranny, there are solutions being made by people who can not be criticized; sadly for those who live within a tyrannical state; those solutions typically suck (#NotAlways).

 It has been said – ‘people vote with their feet first, and then their wallet.’  The intended purpose of encouraging immigration, on the part of the destination nation, is to bring in people who will contribute towards that nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and resolve the shortfalls found within the labour market.  It is the purpose of a non-tyrannical government to protect and support the people within their nation, of course that is how it was, though not how things are now.

 Now things are seemingly focused on ‘give out the cash’, which elicited the one and only answer based on human nature writ large: ‘thank you and give me more’.  It must be remembered that once a ‘hand-up becomes a normalized hand-out’ then when that is taken away, it will be seen as an oppressive act.

On Censorship

 “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

- United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 2)

 

 Typically, censorship is considered as ‘the oppression of the creator’, be it be works that are of rhetorical, written, or image based nature.  Historically though, censorship focused on ideas as demonstrated by the silencing of Socrates, Giordano Bruno, Galileo Galilei, Salman Rushdie, and many others; most notably Political Dissidents.  For those who seek to censor, the problem is not the author, it is the recipients; think of it like a constrictor snake, for while you can take a slash after slash at the snake’s body, but you can only truly stop it by lopping its head off.

  Metaphorically speaking, the audience writ large is the muscles and the author is the brain and while it is difficult to slice every muscle it is a lot less work to remove the head.  While the UN has many flaws, Article 2 got this part correct by including the word ‘receive’.  One litmus test towards validating the integrity of the UN is see what happens with Article 2 and how well it is enforced moving forward.

 Many countries and cultures throughout history exercised the tool of censorship.  The UN post WWII sought to remove this tool from the tool box of both the dictators and the despots that were noted in WWII; unfortunately the UN is at best a political paper tiger as at the end of the day it has no force and therefore by extension no power, that is unless the member states wish to go to war; a situation that is contrary to the UN mandate. 

 Those who seek to censor seemingly feel that they have multiple paths to success; the level of censor’s concern will dictate the means of censorship.  The lowest level is the act of discrediting the person disseminating the idea.  And when this does work, the next level up seems to be a campaign of what we currently call ‘cancel culture’; this is a war of monetary attrition, where the advertisers and their agents are caught in the middle.

The penultimate step in censorship is punishment and when the process is not punishment enough then the penalty no longer remains proportional, and is regulated to legal statutes and legal precedence.  The final solution to the dissident question is the Socratic Method; though in this case the Socratic Method is not about asking questions, it is more focused on the hemlock portion of his life experience.  Going against the orthodoxy is a tricky line to walk as those who wish to censor are still human and so their reactions will lack a well defined path, which causes unpredictability.

 Lady Justice is to be blind and balanced, though now it seems that those who work on the behalf of Justice no longer represent that Lady, and as such, Justice now comes across as a harlot ready to work for their pimp of choice.  This is the result of partisanship, identity politics, the victim of oppression narrative, vote chasing, and Human Rights Commissions.

‘When you tear out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you're only telling the world that you fear what he might say.’ - George R.R. Martin (via Tyron Lannister)

You were Promised Rights

 “The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (March 8, 1841 – March 6, 1935)

  The Americans put forth the ideal of the ‘Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness’, which hasn’t seemed to be working out so well for the last little while now.  When the American founding fathers put those words to paper their idea of multiple cultures was British, German, Dutch, and the French; all of who about 250 years ago where all some form of Christian countries all.  Please note that people from Africa, Ireland, and Italy were in that time not considered at par with the people who came from a more continental European country.  It must be kept in mind that as time moves forward, what is socially acceptable will change as well.

 On Life:

 Back in days of the US Founding Fathers life was much more delicate and so life was held as a required and sacred thing; towards forwarding the family lineage, hence why so many families had so many children; seeing as people easily died easily back then.

  As medicine got better and more machines were introduced, many people slowed down on participating in the baby making process; though I’m sure lots of people tried to make sure that if they ever wanted another child, they were not out of practice.  A problem with all that practicing was that the babies still kept on showing up and under the rules of supply and demand; the sanctity of life has waned. 

  What has become a major point of contention for the Americans is when does the spark of life begin?  For the more scientific, Life begins with the creation of a unique string of DNA, for the more selfish Life begins postpartum which opens the door for abortion, for the religious it depends on the religion though most religions agree with the scientific types as they want to see their religion grow, and as for those looking at eugenics they side with the selfish.

  It has been said that the first order of any government is to protect the citizenry, which leads to the question: when does that citizenry start? Have fun with your friends talking about the 14^th Amendment; which is going to be reviewed sometime soon.

 On Liberty:

 Before Liberty can be properly addressed here, there has to be an understanding of what Liberty is.  The most basic expressions of what Liberty are: (a) the right of a person to choose from alternative courses of action with out being restricted by authority, or (b) the freedom from external restraints, obstructions, constraints, or impediments, without fear or reprisal.  Returning to Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Liberty works best when people remember and understand that if they want liberty, then that same liberty is to be granted to others; else one becomes tyrannical and tyrants typically don’t last long.

  The co-operative liberty model mentioned above formed a sort of social-contract for most people; of course some people just can’t think that way, even in a homogeneous society, and so prisons have had to be built.  The recognition of mutual liberty for all provides for a certain amount of respect among the citizens; respect is presented in two different ways: politeness and admiration of character or deed, and anyone who demands respect without having good character or deed, still deserves politeness but only up to a point.  Also please remember that a person can walk away at anytime when they want to maintain civility.

   In Canada, the Ontario’s Human Rights Commission, which predates the US action by about two years now, has a “Protected Grounds List” with 14 plus items as one of the lines contains “Gender identity, gender expression”.  The full list can be found at - https://www3.ohrc.on.ca/en/ontario-human-rights-code.

 It has been said that: ‘the more laws, the less justice.’  This principle is only made worse by downloading the rule of law to a non-accountable and non-refutable tribunal; and if or when the punishment is not satisfied, the police are called; also, what is typical within an HRC case, is that the determining factor is more subjective rather than objective as made known by facts and evidence.

 On Pursuing Happiness:

 Of all of the problems, of which there are many within the Anglo-sphere, is the shifting of the meaning of common words; for example ‘violence’ used to mean a hurt body not simply a hurt ego or hurt feelings; ‘happiness’ is another word that has morphed over time.  The concept of happiness dates back to the ancient Greeks, where Plato called happiness Areté and Aristotle called happiness Eudaimonia.  For the Geeks of that time, happiness was not just about enjoying a meal or a movie, or if your team won or lost; it was about a good life achieved through the active exercise of virtue, reason, and the pursuit of a meaningful life.

  The US Founding Fathers would have been educated in such matters mentioned above and more.  Other people who would have been studied are Cicero, Caesare, René Descartes, Thomas Aquinas, Immanuel Kant, John Locke, John Stewart Mill, Martin Luther, Edmond Burke, and others I’ve never heard of.  It has been said that if a person copies the work of another that would be considered plagiarism, though if a person copies the ideas of many people that is called research.  It would be interesting to see the citations, be it in footnote or endnote format, with regards, for the United States Constitution and The Bill of Rights.

  The problem, as I see it, is that the word ‘happiness’ keeps getting used these days, though for many people, that word no longer means what the Founding Fathers understood that word to mean.  One of the tactics of every emerging regime is to morph the language to suit their needs; where those who adopt the new verbiage are the friends and those who don’t are now shown to be the enemy to be destroyed with other word that have been changed such as racist, fascist, and of course ‘literally Hitler’.

Much Ado about Nothing

  Both the Greeks and the Romans lacked something in their mathematics that we now take for granted, ‘nothing’, a concept we don’t even think about anymore.  The number Zero, while common isn’t well understood, and as many school boards adopted the ‘new math’ the confusion only grew, a move that has typically been rescinded.  This writing is going to try to sort things for both the author and the audience.

  Starting with some of the basics, zero (0) is a whole number which represents an absence of value or quantity.  Zero is not a natural number, a natural number is the whole number greater than zero; probably a throwback to the Greeks and the Romans.  Also, zero is an even number as it fits the requirements: flanked on each side by an odd number, divisible by two (2), and it ends in the digit zero.

  Many people get confused about zero in that they don’t understand what zero actually does; and while zero represents ‘nothing’: the question must be asked – nothing of what?  As an example, we can take the number one thousand (1,000) and examine it from right to left: there are zero ones, zero tens, no hundreds, and a single thousand; showing once again that zero represents a lacking of value or representation. 

  Now we get to the catalyst for this paper, as here there are potentially three conflicting rules.  Zero also gets a pass on some of the other rules within mathematics.  This is the area where things get confusing: as A) any number divided by itself equals 1 (5÷5=1), though B) with zero it equals itself (0÷0=0), and C) zero divided by a number also equals zero (0÷5=0).  So, did mathematicians break the logic inherent in mathematics or perhaps it was slightly broken all along?

  Seemingly, when zero is used in the numerator slot the result is always zero, however when in the denominator position things turn tricky if you let them.  Before starting this writing, my position was that any number divided by an absence of value or representation remains the same and yet this is where Google and I disagree as Google reports it as ‘undefined’, also MS Excel throws a ‘division by zero error’ and so I carried on looking into it.

  Here is how it works, when one goes just to math, please play this out with the equations shown in A, B, and C above; take the denominator and move it to the other side of the equal sign and multiply;  via this method, all of the equations work as intended.  So now we can try the equation 1÷0=1.  This breaks, for once you move the zero to the right side of the equal sign and multiply, one ends up with 1=1×0, which results in 1=0 which is impossible; and so there you have it; I was wrong.

  In a recent conversation, my confidence superseded my competence and this writing was an attempt to re-balance that problem. 

Some Thoughts on Education

  Government funded education has lost purpose and maybe the blame can be laid at the feet of the band Pink Floyd and their song ‘Brick in the Wall’ with the opening line – “We don’t need no education.”  The song was, in hindsight, prophetic though the song could also have set the tone for how to move forward as it was released in 1979; please lookup the lyrics to get the full story.  It must be noted that the noted introductory line in the song a double negative and so, yes, they do need an education.

  Another factor that has influenced education is the female to male ratio within the education system especially from K-12.  According to Statistics Canada the data shows that approximately 75% of educators are female, with a higher proportion (89%) in elementary schools and a lower but still substantial proportion (59%) in secondary schools.  (Source https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3710015303)  It is understood via the statistics, that boys and young men raised in a single mother home are more likely to end up battered, in prison, or even dead: thus leaving the question, has the formative years for a child’s government driven education has effectively rebuilt the ‘single mother sydrom’, more simply put: it has and been injected into the school system.

   Back when I was in high school I tutored my classmates in Algebra, Calculus, and in Functions and Relations.  More recently I tutored a young man, and went old school on him including, though not limited to, the times-table, and what I call Greek math.  Greek math is what one can do with a ruler, a compass, and protractor; which was done through observation and reasoning.  The most common example of this sort of math is known as the Pythagorean Theorem.

  Pythagoras of Samos, or someone before him, figured out that a equiangular quadrilateral, such as a square or a rectangle, can be cut in half between two opposite corners, which forms a triangle resulting in the equation which is presented as A² + B² = C² where C is the diagonal line from one corner to the opposite corner.  Pythagoras sorted this out without the aid of a teacher, and as such a PHD, posthumously of course, should be awarded by whichever university is of the highest rank in Greece if this hasn’t already been done.

  Another thing that is not being taught, as far as I can tell, is that the basic explanations on the how or the why things work, are no longer being taught.  In the last few yeas I’ve explained to, to many people, why a number squared or cubed is called as they are. Let’s see if I can explain why those mathematical terms are used.  Going back to the good old days of times-table, when one looks at the times-table again, one can see that when you go 3 across on the top and 3 down on the left the result is 9 which forms a square as there are only two dimensions; and yet it still results in a square.  An additionally good task would be to bring in another piece paper for the third dimension, and when one thinks on this idea, one can see why 2^3rd = 16 is referred to as two cubed.  Also, there is no name for 2^4^th as there are no physical dimensions left.

  According to multiple studies, it is said that if a person learns more than one language by the time they reach the age of twelve, they will always know the basic and will be able to speak it without an accent.  This was known to my father, as I was instructed to do times-tables and writing every weekend when I was young, the school system also knew this as I was not allowed a calculator until somewhere around grade ten.  It should be noted that when America put men into space the math was done by hand or by using a slide ruler; oh and I typically add up my shopping list to within two dollars and after that I can tell what the change should be, yes I still use cash.

  The purpose of the paragraph directly above is that if you put in the work manually at a young age then you will reap the reward for most of your life.  The current problem is that age where ‘the toys’ are being introduced and while the toy can give the answer the how it works is being lost; this will only get worse as AI is introduced.  There is program called Grammarly that can write personal letters, reports, legal documents and more.  The problem is going to be that reliance destroys resilience; we are now going to play a game in the form of a narrative.

  The power grid goes down for a week, and so people in homes can not cook, no access to the Internet, or charge their phones and cars, also the gas pumps will stop; also, restaurants won’t be able to cook meals, refrigerate, those who deliver food can’t charge their bikes, and so people will get hungry: can you imagine the level of chaos and violence that will ensue?

   If you don’t use it, you loose it; or perhaps you never really learned writing in the first place; I never really did and I typically only use pencil for words, though I do use a pen when I do maths.  I tend to misspell words all the time, though I’m still working on it, so I can be a better, this is part of the reason for my others writings you can read; the ideas are more important than the spelling.  So this is where I am part from both spelling and grammar, as I just never got it right, it took me about a decade to learn how to type the word dyslexia, though I can now with out error

  Additionally, the rhetorical talent amongst 20-35 year olds seems to be only parroting the current talking point(s), all the while not being able explain what the words coming out their own mouths mean.  I have run into this quite often as of late, and so ‘What do you mean by that’ become my go to response with the current youth; how is that after about 3,000 years the battle against Sophistry has resurfaced or perhaps it had never stopped, and just went into hiding for a while.

  I left grade thirteen around 40 years ago, so I’m not sure how the curriculum is being taught today.  Though based on anecdotal evidence, I feel that things have changed and not for the better.  Two factors must be taken into account at this point, the first being that I have three to four decades over the youth and that most of them live in Google.  A problem with living within Google is that most of the people know the what, while not knowing the why.  This is why teaching history is important, because while the faces change; the human character has not changed for thousands of years.  “Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it”, the question then must be riddled: what happens when history is never really even being taught in the first place? 

  Returning to rhetoric for the final moment, there was a man about 3,000 years ago who stood up against the Sophists and he was sentenced to death for his deeds; his name as you may have guessed was Socrates.  Socrates is best known for the Socratic Method, which is all about asking a person to explain their position and expand on it, which was seen as an attack on the orthodoxy.  The concern is that we have returned to a position of Sophistry and orthodoxy all the while abandoning the Socratic Method: and I’d like to know the how and why that could have happened outside the changes in education systems.

Too Many Minds v One Mind

  The title for this writing was ‘borrowed’ from a scene the Tom Cruse movie The Last Samurai; a highly recommended movie.  This article is going to be a series of questions and answers.

   Misinformation and disinformation: who decides?  The term ‘politically correct’ was invented and maintained during the reign of the USSR, and was then imported to the Western World via Germany and France.  This term basically means that while a fact is actually a fact it is also politically inconvenient to those in charge and so it had to be denied.  How is what happened back then over their any different from what is happening now over here when the State pays for the source of information to the masses: it must be asked once again: who decides?

  Some social media creators have caused problems for those who have decided what misinformation is and what disinformation is, as those creators are showing what is outside of the narrative for those seeking political power and personal gain; though now this seems to be a distinction without a difference between the narrative and the ‘truth’.

  What is a woman?  This question is going to be an easy one seeing as so many people don’t seem to understand the first law of definition writing, or the primary law of writing a dictionary – don’t include the word you are trying to define within the definition being used to define that word.  Consider the simple question of ‘what is a woman’ and of the regular answers provided is ‘A woman is anyone who identifies as a woman’.  Towards making the point, let’s play the definition rule game…

 A woman is anyone who identifies as a (A woman is anyone who identifies as a [A woman is anyone who identifies as a {A woman is anyone who identifies as a ‘A woman is anyone who identifies as a “A woman is anyone who identifies as a woman”’}]).  This author believes that showing and explaining a Mobius Loop to a child would be easier.

  What’s up with all this migration?  This section is going to be broad and long, mostly due to the impact across the Western World; mostly because there isn’t much migration to any other significant country.  It has been said that said that when America sneezes the rest of the World catches a cold, and so we are going to start there.  

 Within those United States of America their census discounts citizenship when it comes to the counting the population, and yet the population count that sets the number of Congressional seats; hence why the practice of Gerrymandering is a problem.  Thus allowing for a more highly populated area to have a greater influence, all the while disregarding the political impact to the individual citizen, a neighborhood, or a city.  This can be noted when one looks to the crime statistics in typically Blue Cities and States.  

  Within Canada, there has also been quite a bit of illegal migration, though mostly via overstayed visa recipients, coupled with people avoiding legal points of entry, which has created situations of higher crime rates and more misery for Canadian citizens.  The previously mentioned misery comes in the form of lower wages and higher land prices; part of this situation can be explained by, if one moves from a home where you shared a home with twenty people and when that get reduced to ten, welcome to a new Nirvana.

  Lampedusa Italia, a small island south of Sicily has been overrun for years until recently, due to people leaving what was once called the Barbary Coast; which is now basically the area that reaches from Egypt to the Atlantic Ocean along the north cost of Africa; Spain has also been suffering the same fate, as has Greece, along with much of the rest of Europe as has Vienna; yet this has happened before.  For in the years around 1300, 1301 according to some, the Ottoman Empire, an empire built around the Sunni sect of Islam invaded the countries of Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Romania, Croatia, Austria, along with other places; it must be remembered that Constantinople did become Istanbul.

  For anyone less versed than this author in history, please be aware that WWI was chiefly a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire which fell in 1922.  For this author, WWII was simply WWI.II, in that seeing as nature abhors a vacuum; especially when ever it comes to political power; some people then did what comes naturally; so they tried to fill in the spaces lacking organized political power.  It then took about one hundred years for the re-invasion, though this time without any kinetic force at the frontend; though the force was delayed until after the mostly fighting age men had already entered the targeted countries as “refugees” from countries considered safe. Additionally, “refugees” are supposed to stop in the first ‘safe’ country which they entered and yet they didn’t.

  Won’t someone please think of the women?  As with many things when it comes to something coming across as a collective, don’t let the exception become the rule.  That being said, a certain something has to be noted – most women are empathetic and they do have mood swings based on their 28 day cycle; this broad biological fact makes stable situations hard to achieve for anyone in proximity.

  Won’t someone please think of the men?  As with many things when it comes to something coming across as a collective, don’t let the exception become the rule.  That being said, a certain something has to be noted – most men typically are more pragmatic and just want to resolve whatever problems are put right in front of them, let them do it and they will cause less troubles.

  Won’t someone please think of the children?  As with many things when it comes to something coming across as a collective, don’t let the exception become the rule.  That being said, a certain something has to be noted – children, female or male, need a mixture of womanhood and manhood in their lives preferably via their mother and father; when the mother or father are no-longer available due to death by illness or accident then some-one in the family should step up and if that is not available then a neighbour should step up; or perhaps a few of neighbours will share the load as that is how a society is going be better and it is well known that mankind is tribal: which raises the question; how is it that multiculturalism was ever expected to work?

  Staying on the topic of the children let us look into the future as best as we can; for it is the children who will eventually be the future, given enough time.  In this the world that has been built, children are mentally and physically being made fungible in Western societies; or should they simply be called ‘wage-slaves’ which is now a common talking point for some. 

  Education used to be the anvil where the tools of society were forged.  Please consider that a firearm is a tool as it provides for force equalization for actual woman when they are attacked by an actual man and a firearm can be used for hunting.  A horseshoe can also be used to smash a skull as can the hammer that was used to shape it.  Within the present situation it seems that the education systems of today, at any level, are seemingly more like a Petri dish rather than the forge & anvil as originally intended. 

  Won’t someone please think of the youth?  Moving beyond the children the young men and women, mostly the men, have lost hope in their future because the price of post high school education is about the same as the down payment on a house, if not higher.  This equation flips between Canada and the US as education is cheaper in Canada while the house prices are lower in the US for a basic home; though please remember that lavish is palatial no matter where you go and so prices may vary by region.

  Moving on, manufacturing was shipped over seas years ago and the west was moved in-to the information/cubical age; now even that is being taken away through poor education and Artificial Intelligence (AI) thus leaving nothing for the youth to live by; for lack of a better term all their jobs have been stolen: leaving the question, who is going to pay for all of the migrants that are currently arriving? 

  It is now time to wrap things up.  The future is always scary and things are not going to get better any time soon, it is just the challenges that shift from century to century and even from generation to generation.  Throughout history there has always been problems somewhere and some when on this globe; the common thread of this history is mankind and hence why there will always be problems.

  People, both writ large and at large are different, which requires that they have different goals, different concerns, and a different picture for moving forward for themselves and their tribe.  All of the differences mentioned just above will cause consternation between tribes within nations as well as between nations as tribes vary in size.

  The post WWI.II dream was that everyone globally would just get along, so that WWIII would be avoided; and yet about 110 years later there is once again talk of that another world war coming.  Any idea, when talked about often enough, will become reality as all of those involved expect it to happen; and as such it will be made manifest for everyone ‘knows’ it is going to happen. 

  What most people want is hope for future stability, this was previously managed in the West by the Church and the Law; both of which have been stripped away and it seems that both the people and the countries have been left morally rudderless, this has happened before, though this time things are more complicated due to so many more morale codes in play; hence too ‘many minds’.

A Living Eulogy of Sorts OR How to say Thank You

 

 To my Mother: a heartfelt thanks to you, because you never stopped loving or caring for my father and your sons amongst with a handful of others; though it took awhile for me to realize just how big your hands could be.  Since I can remember it was with those same hands that you hugged me, it was with those hands that you fed me, and it was with those hands that a garden was grown year after year after year.

  As skilled as your hands are, they paled by comparison to your heart; this declaration is made simply because your heart was the driving power behind your hands; and what a power source it has been.  The love that flowed from your heart was undeniable.  Like many a wonder, the sum of what makes up my mother is more then just the sum of her parts.

  Your hands were mentioned first as that is what I probably first noticed, then as I was able to notice more, her heart came into play, and then after that while it took me a few years for it to come to light just how brilliant my Mother is.  Lucky for me my Mother is a rose and while my father got the full blooming flower; I got a whiff and waif of the scent, and the government got the thorns – and here I quote my Mother: ‘tax evasion is illegal, though tax avoidance is a hobby’, and my Mother really likes her hobbies.  Mother to you I say kiitos. (Thank You in the language of Suomi)

  To my Father: a heartfelt thanks to you, because you never stopped loving or caring for my Mother and two your sons along with a handful of others; though early on it took some time for me to realize just how big your heart could be.  Out of honesty, this author must admit that he was not the most co-operative child in the family when he was at a much lower height; yet Father never stopped loving and what happened was simply his idea of course correction where Father did do was his best to provide the skills for navigating the rapids and rocks of the river of life and seeing as this author from the start was unruly, Father suffered some disappointments.  Though, it is with hope in his heart that frustration was like a cloud of squid ink in the ocean of parental care and love.

   As for his hands, Father has the hands of an artist; his ability to shape and weld metal surely could have landed him a job at Ferrari, though he was handed a path not of his making as he was a child born into war after all.  Additionally, Father and his hands were quite able to work with fine wood as he built a cabinet, restored a piano and used lumber when he expanded the house for his family.  Also, it has to be recognized that not only did Father build he designed, and at that too he excelled; often by using simply graph paper.  The only two things that didn’t come with historical precedence are my brother and I; Father was a craftsman; and yes occasionally the few times it happened, he used his skilled hands on us.  Towards those readers who might claim that a spanking is child abuse: what will you call the school shootings that have been on the rise every since a halt was called to spankings. 

  Though not entirely of his choosing at least in the beginning, he began picking the means to navigated the river of life for himself along with his wife at his side, and eventually his two sons who showed up after their marriage and their ‘luna di miele’.  

  Father, always seemed to hold to the principle of Keep It Simple Son (KISS).  Though due to the rules of nature v. nurture, the world always seemed different for me and yet my Father has always been willing to talk; as his loving and caring has always remained.  It must be mentioned that upon occasion, even to this day the spankings continue, though now it is in the form of verbal chastisement or simply the hanging up of the phone; yet within 24 to 72 hours Father would will with an open mind put that same phone back to his ear to give me another chance as the same love and caring is always present.  Father, to you I say ‘Grazie’ (Thank You in the language of Italia)

 A Note:  In the writings above I used the first person for my Mother and a more remote third person position for my Father.  As a young child, I spent most of my time with Mother, while Father was often off doing stuff though I did not know what that stuff was until I could shift from only my needs towards my thinking for myself, at which point I became more disgruntled, and then I began to understand better and things got healed with the relationship with Father; this was around when I turned 24 years of age

  Well paired:  From my perspective a better couple, marriage, or parents have never existed; certainly there is some bias on my part.  Of course there have been other good parents though those are unknown to me, though some must have come close.  The basic experience as I recall is that Mother was the carrot and Father was this stick, and both played their roles judiciously, that being said I was never allowed to be the donkey; as the saying goes.  I was held to a higher standard than that and rather than being given what I wanted I was given what I needed.

  Due to the limits of the human body and scheduling considerations these words are a targeted approach towards saying ‘Thank You’ to the two people who took on the task of making me the man I am.  I’m not perfect, though I feel I’m good enough; while I didn’t get what I wanted I do have I need.

 

So, hello Mother, hello Father – I thank you both for not spoiling me and teaching me that expectation is the easiest way to disappointment and misery.

Commedia Divisa

  For this stint of writing the original idea was to write a comedy and yet the formula for that never came to be and so this writing is the next best option available; so please enjoy this writing as best as can be hoped for.  The narrative poem, The Divine Comedy was finished in 1321 by Dante Alighieri; and the first part ‘Inferno’ tells the story of his tour of Hell.  A number of things are going on in the world right now, which seem a bit odd, and those things are going to be the focus of what is going to be provided to you the reader.  The section on Hell is also known as Dante’s Inferno post translation to English where the punishment at each of the nine levels is described.  To best understand this piece of writing you might want to Google ‘Dante’s Inferno’.

  C1 - On a PM:  The Canadian government is currently closed due to the actions of Justin Trudeau and now during a leadership shuffle, and now it seems that Canada has a new Prime Minister who was never voted for except by the Liberal Party of Canada; this is the Canadian democracy that is being defended by the Liberals, or so we are told.  Now for a little clarity, in the ancient Greek the word ‘demos’ means the common people, and the word Liberty means being free from oppression or restriction by the authority in one’s life within a society.  There is a caveat here that should be obvious to anyone who wants to avoid prison, which is that the right of one person to swing their arm stops before the nose of another.  By the way, the word caveat comes from Latin, literally means ‘let a person beware’.

  Not everyone thinks at the same speed, which is why democratic governments used to move slowly; as some people just need time to catch up; yet those slow thinking people do still count when it comes to participating in a democratic society.  The speed at which this new and unelected Prime Minister of Canada was installed was entirely managed by the Liberal party of Canada as it sought to leap over those slower thinkers, and those too busy to pay attention.  It must also be noted that the business of making people busy was also orchestrated by the Liberal Party of Canada over the last nine years. 

  C2 – On She v. Her:  It has been known for decades that every animal, big and small, gets just a little nastier and more obvious when there is resource scarcity.  It also used to be well known that when the children where in danger, the female of the species is more dangerous than the male, it may be due to the investment that a woman makes in birthing the child.  Consideration must be given to what is the value of a women is when there are no kids around. 

  The second circle of Hell according to Dante was for those who succumbed to lust and they would be tossed about by a raging wind.  Via the path of artistic license, this instance of the Second circle is for those who use Lust to create personal value; this line of thinking may be repeated somewhere further down this list; we will see.

  When one looks at the porn industry, be it prerecorded or live online such as Only Fans, one can see that the raging winds Dante described now it lacks the patience to wait for the death and judgment of said people as there are repeatedly stories in the old press and new media of people’s remorse for doing pornographic things both recorded or live; thus putting forth the question: which is worse off the fed or the feeder?

 C3 – On Her v. Him:  Understanding that there are only two genders, one can being aware of that when looking close enough, there are also two basic mind sets.  Typically, women like to draw in those they want close, while men typically repel those who need not be anywhere near those they love are; or at least that is how it used to be.  This idea is not a zero sum gender game is silly as nothing in life is a zero sum game.  That is unless one is interested in being the hunter or when one finds oneself being the hunted.

  Of course it must be said that some men were historically unkind to some women, though it must also be pointed out that much of the time these men and women were foreign to each other and that war was the landscape under which this happened.  Of course it also happened that the oppressor and the oppressed are familiar, though there are prisons for those statically rare cases; there are still some who feel that it is only men who do the oppressing, an idea which is just is not so, look towards the big ask many women demand in divorce court.

 C4 – Walk in Skinny, Walk out Fat:  In recent years, okay a few more then that, Nancy Pelosi (Rep-D) has out performed the best of the best of the best of Wall Street; people have made money by simply following the tactical trades made by Mrs. Pelosi.  It is well known that due to human nature, where there is money there will be crime.  Back in the day, around the year of someone’s Lord 1700, Sir Isaac Newton was tasked in reducing inflation by put-ting a stop to coin clipping.  For those not in the know, coin clipping was the act of shaving off a bit of silver or gold from a coin, thus reducing the true value of the coin.  By the way, if you like the little ridges on the side of your coins, give a small thanks to Sir Newton.

  Much like a tasty feast with a good bottle of wine, no good thing lasts for ever. In 1971 then President Tricky-Dick (Richard Nixon) moved away from the gold standard and created money that had no actual value outside of the trust to repay a debt; sort of like a country level credit card.  It might be odd to some that in the 1960s the then Defense Security Robert McNamara was the son of the man, Frank McNamara, who invented the first credit card (Dinners Card) – go figure.

 C5 – On the Never Happy:  This circle is a bit of challenge as it deals with ‘Wrath’ where the punishment is being submerged in the river Styx.  The response to this circle is simple; the river Styx is full of modern day feminists and those LARPing (Live Action Role Playing) as communists\antifascists (ANTIFA).  Returning to the challenge, the question must be asked: why do these people have wrath and what is making this wrath?

  Interestingly, summer is coming and in the north hemisphere, especially within the USA; soon it will be the summer of someone’s discontent.  In the year 2020, there were ‘mostly peaceful protests’ in many cities in the USA, the UK, and Canada.  The protesters destroyed property and people died by intentional act; in short they made chaos in the name of wrath. A possible outcome by the end of this summer is more damaged property along with deaths for which legal prosecutions should be held.  

 

C6 – On the Wrong Ones:  Recently there has been a social narrative present by some and ignored by others, which states that all cultures and societies are equal, which is anathema to reality; else why would anyone move from one country to another.  It is well known that people vote with their feet first and then with their wallets, as explained by the economist Milton Freedmen; the issue arises when the target country starts handing out wallets, which has been a habit of late on both the personal and business fronts.

  Getting back to the basic premise of this circle, the problem with a multicultural country is: can you the reader or anyone else hold a firm personal belief that will not be a form of heresy to someone else’s strong belief?  There is a logical problem in such a situation in that there can be no heterodoxy if there is no single orthodoxy, which means that at some point there will be competing strong beliefs at the local level; these were at one time called The Crusades.  It must be now re-enforced that the typical human being is tribal and the lines of demarcation are both varied and diverse; so long as said person is on the winning team they will join those they perceive will be the winning team.  

 

 C7 – On Hurting Others:  It should be known to the many that the meaning of some words change over time and it is sometimes forced; this is shown to be true, as some people are no longer able or willing to publically define what a ‘woman’ is.  Then again, some other people also previously stated that ‘silence is violence’, while at the same time the government types live in a world where the threat of violence is the base to collect taxes and control speed limits; try not paying a speeding ticket.

  This author is having a problem with this particular circle, probably due to the premise upon which it is based, in the time of Dante, he would have been tethered to the bible as found in Matthew 26:52 where one can find the phrase "Put your sword back in its place.  For all who draw the sword will die by the sword".  Many people will say that the sword quote above is all about ‘you reap what you sow’, which does in some cases holds true.  Though, this author also believes that a good man, a gentleman as it were, will also sow that which he knows he will not reap; the classic example of this practice is the planting of a tree under which shade he will never sit, and yet some men will still put that sapling in the ground regardless.

  So, perhaps this level of Hell should also include those who work towards inciting and promoting violence; interestingly enough Dante figured out that this was a greater level of sin over 700 years ago.

 

C8 – On Misdirection:  Some people, who mislead some other people, can destroy a community seeing as a community or even a whole society can not function without trust; otherwise the only available remaining tool is force.  When the government no longer trusts the people they arm up against the people; and when the people no longer have any trust in the government then those people will in turn arm up; violence is the result of no debate.

  The News Media of yesteryear was not the News Media of today or maybe it was and just no-one noticed; though it must be admitted that some lines of thinking take time to find form and take root; though as a counter point, some people still feel the world is flat even if they can only see just less than ten kilometers uninterrupted bits of at any given time.

   Quite some time ago the narrative was driven by competing priests on the behalf of the plethora of various gods at the time, then as the number of recognized gods dropped, the leaders of the descending number of different religions gained more power to the point where Popes and Kings had pitch battles with each other using the poor people as recipients for the swords, arrows, and eventually bullets.  

 

 C9 – In the River Cocytus:  Dante’s lowest level has now been reached and now the crux of the situation must now be discussed.  While lying is not the best of the actions, some times a complement, in the form of a white lie, is the best course of action towards maintaining some semblance of serenity.  Many people claim that they want the want the truth, yet that lasts until they hear it.  The River Cocytus is that place for those who went above and beyond lying and performed actual betrayal. 

  Betrayal is a post high-trust condition, this counts people who made a promise such as signing a contract, making an oath, a promise, or even a handshake deal; and then they renege.  For this author the word ‘trust’ is interesting as it seems to mean different things to different people, for some people the word ‘trust’ implies a sort of light level of friendship or something even deeper, yet for this author the word ‘trust’ implies an understanding of what is predictable; one can always ‘trust’ what a hungry lion will do to you if you were to come face to face with one.

  Betrayal requires a promise made and then a promise not kept.  This author is not sure how there can be betrayal in a low trust society outside of what the legal system is able to provide under contract; and yet, here is where we are at.  Having been born in Canada, this author has never sworn an oath to obey the law of the land, though back in those days that oath was assumed due to the high-trust society back in the day; basically there was no choice, it was just the way it was.  The current situation though is one where the same oath this author’s parents’ parents took at upon arriving to Canada, and yet it seems that those recently arrived don’t take seriously which would be an act of betrayal.  It must be noted that this author believes that the same oath for immigrants be taken by those graduating high school even when born in Canada.

 

Conclusion:   Dante being an Italian would have been a Catholic in his time, hence his description of Hell; also, he did slot in some personal resentment for those who banished him from Firenze (Florence) Italy.  This article is simply intended as an updated version of the original Inferno script with new targets; though the original purpose remains, as banishment was the way to cancel people back in the twelve and 1,300s.  It has become apparent to this author that the circus never really left town and the only thing that changed is the makeup on the clowns; all the while the animals in the show have remained the same.

  It has been said that ‘The road to Hell is paved with good intentions’, that saying implies lazy at its core as it implies that those with good intentions didn’t consider the outcome: be it within the transcendental, the physical, or just the typical human lacking forward thinking?

The Noble Lie(s)

 

This title was ‘borrowed’ from an interview given by the British historian David Starkey.

 It has been often said ‘the best lie that the Devil made was convincing people that he didn’t exist’ that is the premise of this article.  This world has been bereft with lies and anger since cognition began at the first bite of the apple though perhaps it was a little later after one son killed the other son.  As always, there is the request to the reader to take note of what was going and when it was happening; in short, the rules of years gone past are not rules of today.

Just for clarity, while uttering a lie it is not one of the deadly sins, it is noted in the ninth of the Ten Commandments; which states ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.’  For this author that Commandment is missing a vital element, which is a part two which reads something like ‘and you shall not bear false witness to your neighbor.’

The list below is neither exhaustive nor complete; it is simply there to set the tone for expanding thinking.  Hint – In Italian ‘Mio domando a te’ means ‘My question to you’, this may crop up from time to time.

 On slavery: The British and the United States of America were the source of slavery has been the narrative for twenty to thirty years, if not longer.  Historically, there has never been a major culture and many smaller cultures that have not engaged in slavery. The Egyptians did it, the British did it,  the Aztecs did it, the Arabs did it, the Maury did it, the Chinese did it, and even the Portuguese did it, at some point in time almost every culture engaged in slavery.

 The slaves sourced from Africa were sold into bondage by other Africans, this was tribe on tribe warfare were the spoils of war was counted in people.  It is estimated that more Africans were sold to the Middle East, probably due to lower shipping costs and yet the population percentage of African descendents in the Middle East is nearly zero; there is a single word answer to this potential conundrum – castration.

 The argument or narrative that also must be put forth is the one about which countries worked hardest and took losses to try to stop slavery.  Please remember that was then and this is now, in 1833 the British government borrowed mass sums of moneis to buy slaves from the owners, a sum which was finally returned in full in 2015.  Possibly the Americans paid the highest price seeing as it was done in blood, an estimated two percent of the American population in 1860, the estimated range is 620,000 – 850,000 and that was just the solders.  It must be noted that other countries joined the anti-slavery movement, including though not limited to: Russia, Germany, Brazil, and France.

 The act of slavery was rebranded into ‘indentured servitude’, which was basically the same thing though it did come with a sunset clause for when the enslaved would be released; my uncle was a victim of this when he first came to Canada in the 1950s.

 ‘My body, my choice’: has been the mantra of feminism for many years now, though the tonality of that statement has been changed over time.  Many American women did not join in with the suffragette movement because they linked rights and responsibility and worried that gaining the vote would ensnare them into the draft; as service grants you citizenship was the name of the game back then, unlike it is today.

  Once an equal voice via the vote was granted without equal responsibility demanded as the responsibility for service was carved out for women, the slippery slope got started; no one at the time though neither knew the length nor direction of just how far that slanting would go.  When the fairer of the two sexes came into play, the world changed for many people as the character of the smothering mother was lifted above the personal and as such it was made manifest for the communities at large. 

  For those not familiar with the term ‘smothering mother’, it has been rebranded as both ‘bubble wrapping kids’ or ‘helicopter parenting’, both of which being terms that might be better understandable for some.  The acts of the ‘smothering mother’ is neglect cloaked in kindness, which makes it so dangerous; for while in the moment, a child may be rendered safe but in the long run that person has no coping skills.  For a parallel comparison, just look to why so many children are now allergic to peanuts.

  Looking back to the original quote for this section, one can see how it promotes a level of narcissism close to that of the ‘smothering mother’, as choices only are owned by the one, while the future needs of the child are ignored.  Yet, the term ‘my body my choice’ doesn’t seem to have any utility when it comes to the protection of, or in support of, other women.  This position seems to be a single issue, single state, and a singular circle Venn diagram where the female bodies and the female choices are limited in other states and as of yet there is quite the lack of decrying on the behalf of women in other lands where the rules are not so open and respectful.  Where were the ‘my body my choice’ proponents when it came to the COVID vaccine?

   Politics, power, and purpose:  Most of the people in the Western world seem to think that politics has to do with the governance or the management of a parish, a province or state, and entire countries; the problem arises when the getting of power and holding onto power are seemingly the only purpose.  Even Mother Nature never holds power for no reason, though it seems that nature is more reactive rather then proactive once one looks at in the larger picture; still, one must wonder at the perfection of such a system that sorts things out over time.  (In this paragraph the word ‘power’ was intentionally confused between meaning ‘influence’ and ‘force’, just to show the flexibility of how words can be shifted.)

  Some context, by which some clarity may be given to this point, no-one seeks power for no purpose and when there seems to be no reason then the reason is probably money; via money people can get what they want and that is simple power.  Interestingly, there is an historical question worthy of consideration: ‘why do so many politicians walk in skinny and walk out fat?’  

 Looking at the poor conditions that so many people in the First World live in, it becomes obvious that the purpose of many in government is simply service-to-self.  Given enough time a fox will get into the hen-house, and even worse, an even more sly fox will get in to the effort of designing the next hen-house, this now seems to be the state of many Western governments.  Based on the deficit spending via the money printing, it should be obvious that the foxes have been building the ‘spending hen-houses’ for quite some time now.

   Is Diversity diverse:  For about a decade the Prime Minister of Canada has said that ‘diversity is our strength’ though what that diversity looks like was never described or numerically qualified and so no-one was given a map or picture of just what the perfect cultural enrichment would look like.  So now, about a decade after that line was put forth we are seeing an infraction against Toronto Municipal Code 950-300B, this would be the one about obstructing traffic on the roads by pedestrians.  And yet, for months now in Canada some streets in some cities have been blocked with Islamic prayer and protest though only when the weather permits.

 

 Now is the time for a hypothetical that should be tested, how do you the reader assume that the Metropolitan Toronto Police would react if each Christian/Catholic church was to hold Mass on the main intersection outside their respective churches each week; weather permitting of course, the same hypothetical can be done with the all of the Synagogues of course.

 Bigotry: who makes that decision?  In the days of old when times were bold, and those who invaded took over, the winners took control of the people and resources for ever; or maybe not, as no-one invades forever.  Taxes were levied which can be seen as partial slavery, much like what the Romans did with their territories and what Muslims do with the Jizya  tax.  Some problems, such as the amount of snow or rain that falls, can not be fixed; yet when other problems that can be solved though are not addressed, then it must be assumed that when those who can do something don’t, then they just don’t care.  This of course causes the biggest of problems; begging the question - how far are you willing to go to solve a problem and to what length are willing to go to solve someone else’s problem and would they mind?

   The situation that should be noted is that bigotry seems to be inescapable in that always adding ever smaller groups to the list of protected classes means that any given group will compete with some other group to see who ends up being best served by those who signal some sort of virtue and hand out the privileges.

  Please bear with this author for a moment while a political and mathematical exercise is played out to address both bigotry and phobia.  Grizzly bears and Polar bears are in the top 1,000 feared animals on the planet, with humans being number one by the way, yet being bear-phobic is not a thing, and yet when it comes to some people with a certain mindset and/or ideology kill more people than the bears per capita, though a label has be assigned to those who express caution or fear of said persons.  The question then must be put forward as to what is the standard by which people are allowed to be afraid of a thing and then be able to discuss it?

  Conclusion: In the best democracies across the globe the divide between the political Left and the political Right was described as an isosceles triangle with a very narrow base; where the base of the triangle was the list of problems to be solved, thus leaving the people to decide if the left side or the right was the best way to narrow that base, and the list of problems got reduced.  Then after 1945, the base of the triangle was widened, and then it was widened again, sometimes with purpose and so making our triangle obtuse in one direction or the other.

  Forty some odd years or so ago, the political Right worked on managing the censoring of Western societies in order to maintain power, recently or now depending on the country, the political Left is doing exactly the same thing for precisely the same reason; when the political party in power tries to halt the messaging of their opposition then the goal seems to be just the Power that comes with being in charge.  When there is a good idea for the many then that idea will flourish within that society and then it will stay, though who decides what is good is, a completely different conversation? 

  The Noble Lie is basically the ask by some, that the others aught to ignore any posteriori knowledge, which is by the way, otherwise known as knowing something based on a real world event and just go along with the given narrative.  One sample of a noble lie can be found in the phrase ‘Reproductive Rights’ as the act of birth seems to be nowhere in sight when this slogan is brought forth.  Though the act of simulating reproduction as the goal, has now become ‘fucking’ obvious for quite some time, thanks to the Internet, with sites like OnlyFans.COM (online stripping for money).

  The Noble Lie is someone telling you that what you see and hear is untrue and that you have lying eyes and ears; there is one small problem though; by which metric do you measure the breadth and depth of what you see and hear?  The narrative has taken precedence over the facts; usually in the name of doing a good, though all the while the good never seems to have been made manifest when one considers GDP per capita, the number of homeless, along with drug use and drug death numbers.

It wasn't me, how we got there.

  For many people, their worldview typically expands in proportion to both their brain and their life experiences.  It all starts in the baby phase with food and touching are the only things that matter, then as the baby grows just a bit, clean diapers start to come into play as it is quite uncomfortable for them; of course this is the parents fault as it is the parents who put the diapers on the small child. At this point in human development, the world-view is limited to what the body needs and what the body can touch.

  As mobility improves for the soon to be toddler their worldview expands even further up and into the post the crawling phase.  As the mobility continues to grow many children learn where to forage for food, that would be the kitchen, and to ensure that some of the other items at the lowest level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs are secured; some of those items being water, shelter, and sleep.  Physiological Needs, the title of the lowest level, will be revisited later.

  Our sample child is still not capable of knowing how to address the second lowest of Maslow’s layers, Safety Needs, with emotional security being the exception; thus leaving the parents holding the bag on the rest of the items at that level.  The middle level, Social Belonging, speaks of family, friendships, and more.  For the child, this possibly occurs at that point when socialization is thrust upon them by the parents.  Unfortunately, in this the current year many parents offload the socialization aspect of parenting to strangers, TVs, ‘smart phones’, and eventually pre-school followed up by actual-school.  In older times, predating the nuclear family, things were not left to strangers or even just the parents; the multi- generational family did the work, this included the grandparents, aunts and uncles, and even older cousins were involved.  Recalling that Maslow’s Hierarchy describes human needs, it is no wonder that as technology and strangers have invaded and replaced the family, the kids are no longer alright and a higher level of sociopathic behaviour has emerged within western societies.

  David Riedman maintains a database of K-12 shootings from 1966 to present, which can be found at https://k12ssdb.org/all-shootings.  An interesting exercise would be to lay on some additional data; data such as population, per capita GDP, the party of the POTUS, and some historical landmarks such like the ubiquitous spread of TV along with the advent and introduction of social media.

  Regarding the data found in the link above, following data was extracted: in 1966 the number of shootings was 9 with the average for each decade is as follows: for the 1970s - 16.6, 1980s - 22.7, 1990s - 29.9, 2000s - 37.1, 2010s - 52.6, and for the 2020s so far the average is 257.4 as only the completed years were counted with 2024 having 310 at the time of this writing.  The most shootings were at the High-School level, coming in at 61.1%.

  The purpose of any system can be understood by its output, especially when the system’s timeline extends over years and decades.  Of course, while one must always keep in mind ‘The Law of Unintended Consequences’, this concept falls apart when things are going badly and there is no effort towards correcting the course.

  Returning to the mid layer of Maslow’s Hierarchy and that Social Belonging is where the damage begins.  As mentioned earlier, the outsourcing of the socializing children has had ever growing consequences for years now, and for decades many people have been going along with this idea more and more.  Once Social Belonging fails, the Self-esteem layer becomes harder to manifest for the individual; people in this situation are not going to see any respect, any recognition of who they are, and thus they have no ego especially when they are treated as if made of cellophane.

  While K-12 shootings are the low hanging fruit for the MSM, the raise in the number of shooters is not the only signal that something is seriously wrong across society.  Without a personal identity, a person’s EGO presents much like a rudderless ship open to being boarded and commandeered; as such, with a foreign hand doing the steering, many young people ended up with an understanding of themselves that didn’t match who they are; this resulted in lives being ruined due to just how far things went with the invention of trans-gender related bottom and top surgeries.

  Falling under the umbrella of the ‘banality of evil’ is the enforcement of personal pro-nouns with the promotion of Bill C-16 in to law.  The problem with this facet of the Canadian political landscape is that Bill C-16 was done in the name of inclusivity; much like the Affirmative-Action laws down in the USA.  Both Canada’s C-16 and the US’ Affirmative-Action laws are effectively a zero-sum game with a twist; that twist being that one side and one side only has government backing coupled with the access to legal protection, and by extension, inflict legal punishment.

  Sticking with the personal pronoun topic, for some they had the need to assert their off-typical pronouns to make them feel better; an apology to the reader if you can’t determine if the proceeding words were numerically confusing, but that was the point.  This is again an indicator of what Maslow identified as social belonging, because without a solid EGO, the ID will take the upper hand.  Freud saw the danger of a ruling ID when it is left to it-self without a substantive and solid EGO.

  The personal pronoun and gender expression demands are the logical conclusion of an over emphasis on the ID.  Consider the comic book world where people are empowered and then they make the choice of using that power for helping themselves or towards the ideal of helping others; many of the classic stories follow the same story arc; typically the villains were the ones who helped themselves and the heroes were those who helped the ones without power, those being the others.

  The public Internet coupled with Social Media has changed the political landscape as first attributed to Stalin in the form ‘If only one man dies of hunger, that is a tragedy.  If millions die, that’s only statistics’ (Washington Post 20 January 1947).  It is the opinion of this author that on the day of his birth (Friday the 13th) he was born into a society of people who believed in the WE, that was changed into a society of ME around the 1980s, and that then became a society of IT WASN’T ME.  This WASN’T ME narrative is now presenting itself typically in two ways, the softer way is simply playing dodge-ball with a pointed question and the second is to point towards someone else and blame them, other-wise known as ‘throwing them under the bus’; and, when all else fails it seems that there is always “climate change” to fall back on.

 

 

Nowhere and Everywhere

Nowhere and Everywhere

 

 The word Utopia is understood to mean an imagined place or state where all things are perfect; though in the Greek where the word comes from, the word translates into ‘not place’ or nowhere.  The stitching together of these two phrases ‘nowhere’ and ‘there can be perfect place’ was probably done by some sarcastic comedian or an even more sarcastic Sci-Fi writer.  

 Unlike this author, many people believe in or present that they believe some sort of a utopian future that can actually be made manifest; imaginary places should be left to the subconscious, fairy-tales, and within fantasy books or movies.  What the perfect place looks like is debatable as ‘just right’ is subjective, this makes for a very inconvenient effort unless one feels that the might makes right; history can show us that there have been people who thought along this line, though history also informed us that the general population decided that sort of thinking required an edit (cue the song Bella Ciao).

 Everything of value comes at a cost and yet who pays the piper must be asked.  It seems that those who follow the Utopian path like to offload the cost to others, whereas those who take the path of reality typically expect people to pickup their own tab; thus showing one of the main differences in the human mindset.

 This split in mindset spans across all levels of society, at the top the political utopians see handing out benefits as a way to buy votes from the people at the bottom, while the people at the bottom see these benefits as a way to avoid labour; this sort of thinking has been going on for years.  Conversely, those who think another way understand that work has the reward of accomplishment and that typically people can make better choices for themselves and their children over some pencil pusher who only sees them simply as a number; this sort of thinking has been going on for years.

 Many a company makes the claim that their software product costs as little as a cup of coffee a week; depending on which coffee one buys that cost can range from $84.00 for an Espresso to $240.24 CAD for a Caramel Toffee Latte if you like buy your coffee at Tim Hortons; just imagine the increase in cost if Star Bucks was used as the metric.  The problem though is that the cost of the coffee is not just the beans, the cup and the labour involved.  Tim Hortons was picked for the metric because people have started to notice that the frontline workers there are primarily people from India, to the point where even the Canadian MSM has taken note.

 People consider intentions and yet act based on incentives and that is just what Tim Hortons did in their hiring practice.  The Canadian government made a policy where, when hired the salary for foreign students would be subsidized; couple that with the current immigration policy and the outcome should be obvious. 

A national level government can produce no value and therefore should be left out of any calculation of National GDP.  What a national government should only do is to set aside the value taken from the citizenry for the protection of the citizens from enemies both foreign and domestic; and through tariffs, trades facilitate the enrichment of the citizens.

  As Ronald Ragan claimed, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help’, are some of the scariest world in any language; and the more government people show up the scarier things get because each one them is on the tax payers dime.  It should seem obvious to the reader that the bigger the government gets the more it will need to be fed.  Returning to the subsidy, it must be remembered that the government can only have money by two means, collecting taxes or by printing money, and any government that does both at once will destroy its nation.

Robert A. Heinlein once wrote ‘Don’t over imbibe as you may miss when the taxman comes’ and Jesus said to have uttered, ‘Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.’  While Heinlein’s quote may have been said in jest, many people accept it as a true the sentiment and while lots of people don’t like taxation they do see taxes as a necessary evil towards having a better community.  The problem seems to be that the size of the government has become inversely proportional to the size of the Government ROI.

It is commonly known that the printing of money is the primary cause of inflation with an overabundance of corporate taxation coming in a close second; counterfeiting, theft and bribery finish off the list.  The ranking of the final three will vary depending on the nation under scrutiny.  Inflation is in fact both a current tax on the poor for it drives up existing prices on day-to-day items, all the while demanding greater taxes in the future towards paying off the national debt incurred from the central banking system.  Something of note is that as the price of things goes up, already owned assets provide more leverage to buy even more assets; in this sort of economy poor get squeezed, and the rich get to graze.

 Canada in the last nine years has become ground zero for the perfect storm for what was noted above, along with many other Western countries.  For many years now the way of the world as understood by many politicians has been to allow for national debt growth because the bigger the debt the bigger the ability to borrow against that debt which in turn generates more debt, thus more inflation; explaining the number of sides of a Mobius Strip might just have become more easily graspable for the many youngsters currently being educated.

  Many Canadian politicians understand there is a housing crisis in Canada, which is quite obvious when one looks at availability, price, transaction counts, and all of the too easy to find ‘tent cities’.  The political pendulums has seemingly swung more towards show over go in the mind of Canada’s current Prime Minister; perhaps it has always been this way and enough people simply didn’t notice at the time.  The litmus test for the integrity of anyone with power is that when things go sideways that person takes responsibility; yet the current Canadian PM is not doing that when it comes to: the lack of housing, high food costs, homelessness, and the number of Canadians out of work.  This does beg the statement – ‘if it is not worth fixing, then it is not a problem’ – as the output of a system describes the purpose of the system; please keep that front of mind when next you vote.

 There is an ongoing debate about Canada as to if it is Soc-Cap or Cap-Soc, meaning that within Canada is the priority - socialist first or capitalist first, and seemingly Canada does neither adequately under the current administration.  If ‘the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree’ is true, then when coupled with the level of the wealth redistribution, a paternity test now may throw some shade on Margret Trudeau’s character; that is if you believe that doing that sort of behaviour is wrong.  The world has changed from US to ME, in the course of the last fifty years, as noted by this author many times over.

 There seems to be an organized effort by many of those seeking power or keeping it towards making an environment of division.  These divisions are being centered on labels such as: race, religion, sex, gender, the political Left, the political Right, being rich, and being poor; and then add in the current level of migration/invasion which of course just adds in another item to the pigeon holes already mentioned.  While there is an underlying cause to the situation described above, and that would be ‘government’, in this case the government is in fact the numerator, NOT the denominator as it has shown itself to want to be on top, rather than below in the sense of ground up.

 A loud ‘Fuck you’ is occasionally the only reasonable response to an unreasonable situation; of-course the follow up step is in the asking of what is the unreasonable?  Upon reflection of both the US election and the up-and-coming Canada election, a certain tactic has emerged; the message of ‘here is why we are the right choice’ has been replaced with the message ‘the other people are wrong because – insert label here.’ 

 While the familial lineage of Justin Trudeau may be in question, there is little doubt in the mind of this author that the current Prime Minister of Canada plays as if he is the child of the Klaus Schwab and his World Economic Forum (WEF); the WEF though has a problem, and that problem is the nefarious slogan that states, ‘you will own nothing and be happy.’  The word nefarious was used due to the basic premise that a person’s right to property shall not be a thing, and yet there is the assumption that persons will hold care for something that is not theirs.

 The model is quite simple, a father give his son some tools and sends him off to a job-site to ask for a job, the youngster gets the job and gets to work with those tools and he eventually learns a trade; one day that son will hand down the tools to his own son.  Contrast the previous situation to the following situation – a father shows up for work and at the end of the day he drops his hammer into the freshly poured cement as he knows that he will be handed another one tomorrow leaving himself nothing to pass on to his son; this of course is not a problem seeing as his son will also be handed a hammer.  Of course all those hammers being tossed come at a cost and that cost has to come from somewhere, be it via: higher levels of taxation, higher project costs, or cheaper hammers which in turn will break sooner - the economic rot is then secured regardless.  When a person doesn’t own the thing or see any beauty in that thing then they don’t care for the thing as the thing has no value.

What many people have been doing is to decry the deeds of the current Prime Minister of Canada, deeds such as:

o       The number of ethics violations and conflicts of interest across the board with the current government.

o       The number of flights he has been on, while claiming to be working towards saving the planet. 

o       This PM’s claim toward protecting democracy and then ordering the bank accounts of people protesting non-violently locked.

What many media people haven’t been doing, is talking about the non-deeds of the current Prime Minister of Canada:

o       Halting the sale of coal to China towards curbing carbon emissions.

o       Halting immigration, towards opening up jobs and housing for Canadians.

o       Admitting that his politics is simply Communism-Light hiding behind cheap wrapping-paper decorated in solar panels and windmills made in China using coal-fired electricity plants.

 ‘The result of any system can be measured by the results of that system’, is similar to the old adage which states that ‘actions are more important than words.’  Towards adding an insult to the current injuring of Canada, the following quote will be piled atop the two presented just now: ‘Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.’  (Eric Hoffer, The Temper of Our Time.)

 This all begs the question – what is Justin Trudeau’s actual purpose and how well has he answered that call so far?